How to get that "old school" look?

I'm fairly new to photography/processing (6 months) and was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to get that 'old school' effect that camera's used to produce. It's not quite like lomo, but more like the photo below (complete with scratches!):

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

Shoot old film with a soft filter on the lens, leave it in a shoe box for 30 years, then develop. That'll do it

PS welcome to POTN, someone who has a real answer will probably reply before long

Don't forget to misfocus a tad. For the scratches, get a thumbtack & go to town.

i really like this style also, but how to emulate in PS? hmm... tough... well, you would need to use the 'lens blur' filter a bit or guassian blur if you want it out of focus like that, maybe use the lasso and selectively miscolour cetrain parts using 'coloured' curves, use the lasso again to add a partial vignette to one of the sides, play with the contrast a tad, and too add the scratches etc, hmm,, i guess you can use some 'real world' examples, such as take photos of some scratches, and use layers to layer them onto (or behind) your image and experiment with 'blending modes' until you find something that suits you. I guess you can also play with the 'channel' mixer selctively to further distort some of the tones...

parts of that image you posted may be slightly 'unsaturated', again use the lasso tool to partially lower the saturation in some areas....

it is quite hard to achieve I can imagine

maybe easier if you make a 'pin hole' camera and load it with some velvia , or go out and buy that 'Lomo' or 'Holga' that I know you really dream of...

....in addition, plus you will need a suitable subject. not may people dress that way these days

I'd start with RAW, use high color temp, de-sat a hair, then convert and add some lens blur.

SeanH wrote in post #3491268
I'd start with RAW, use high color temp, de-sat a hair, then convert and add some lens blur.

why are people these days so adamant on using RAW? it is not necessary.....
you can do plenty with jpeg these days...

anyway, i just had a 10 minute dabble in Photoshop, just playing around really. It does not really look that retro.

I used your photo (soccerkidyy0by2) to 'modulate' the colours in my photo, using Image > Adjustements > Match Colour - this will make Photoshop try its best to lend the colours from one image and apply them to another image.

Then played with tones and saturation and levels selectively by using the lasso on various selections...

Well, anyway, here is something I just made for fun, and the original photo (taken in UK on my old Canon G3). To do more, I guess you can add some grain (noise) and try and modulate the photo with some 'scratches' using layers. Perhaps you could add more blur (I used 'lens blur' here) accordingly.

...oh, and as I said earlier, i think a lot of the 'effect' comes from the Fashion of the times. It would be easier to achieve if people wore similar clothes as it your photo...

I wish I could describe more of what I done here to help you a bit more, but I am not the best at writing out 'methods'. sorry But I would like to have more time to create this style, so I may try and return soon with some better attempts

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Download Virtual Photographer from www.optikvervelabs.com. It has a filter called "Sixties Slide" that emulates this look somewhat.

liza wrote in post #3492074
Download Virtual Photographer from www.optikvervelabs.com. It has a filter called "Sixties Slide" that emulates this look somewhat.

thats cheating - but will save you hours of 'learning' :P

andrewaaa5 wrote in post #3492118
thats cheating - but will save you hours of 'learning' :P

Not really cheating, just efficient. My volume is too high to painstakingly alter thousands of images in a months time. Actions and plug-ins make my life a lot easier.

andrewaaa5 wrote in post #3492017
why are people these days so adamant on using RAW? it is not necessary.....
you can do plenty with jpeg these days...

anyway, i just had a 10 minute dabble in Photoshop, just playing around really. It does not really look that retro.

I used your photo (soccerkidyy0by2) to 'modulate' the colours in my photo, using Image > Adjustements > Match Colour - this will make Photoshop try its best to lend the colours from one image and apply them to another image.

Then played with tones and saturation and levels selectively by using the lasso on various selections...

Well, anyway, here is something I just made for fun, and the original photo (taken in UK on my old Canon G3). To do more, I guess you can add some grain (noise) and try and modulate the photo with some 'scratches' using layers. Perhaps you could add more blur (I used 'lens blur' here) accordingly.

...oh, and as I said earlier, i think a lot of the 'effect' comes from the Fashion of the times. It would be easier to achieve if people wore similar clothes as it your photo...

I wish I could describe more of what I done here to help you a bit more, but I am not the best at writing out 'methods'. sorry But I would like to have more time to create this style, so I may try and return soon with some better attempts

you picture still looks too good, you need to make it more blurry and crappy lookin to get it to have the same look.

This sounds like fun.

Simple picture I took once with a my wifes little point and shoot. Used Adobe Photoshop to blur the image, change the hue and saturation and basically just tinker, experiment.
I didn't find a way to realistically make a crease or thumbtack hole though.

Here is my 1st attempt at this mod:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Thanks for everyone's help. I do shoot in RAW and use lightroom, so I can do it with RAWs or with jpegs. :P

The attempts so far a good, but seem like they're missing that extra spark. I had a look around on deviantart, because i know i've seen this look before and they seem to do it quite well. Here are two pictures i managed to find that get the look well i thought:

http://www.deviantart.​com/deviation/58703873​/
http://www.deviantart.​com/deviation/38415636​/

Maybe they put hours of work into their PP, i'm not sure, but i really like the effect!

Thanks again.

deadpass wrote in post #3492306
you picture still looks too good, you need to make it more blurry and crappy lookin to get it to have the same look.

...and the award for most constructively helpful post of the week goes to ^^ above ^^

Beasticly wrote in post #3494476
Thanks for everyone's help. I do shoot in RAW and use lightroom, so I can do it with RAWs or with jpegs. :P

The attempts so far a good, but seem like they're missing that extra spark. I had a look around on deviantart, because i know i've seen this look before and they seem to do it quite well. Here are two pictures i managed to find that get the look well i thought:

http://www.deviantart.​com/deviation/58703873​/
http://www.deviantart.​com/deviation/38415636​/

Maybe they put hours of work into their PP, i'm not sure, but i really like the effect!

Thanks again.

I did see a tutorial on how to recreate 'light leaks' and ageing, I think it will help achieve the effects seen in those images from Deviant Art. You may need to experiment a bit more yourself also. Here is a link, but there is no commentary, just a PS user:

http://www.metacafe.co​m …c_lomo_effect_i​n_5_steps/

Malskat, i think your effort was just great. I think the type of picture that you used worked quite well with all those orange tones..

I have previously made attempts, not to recreate old pictures, but just to 'dirt them up' a bit. Here is one example:

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andrewaaa5 wrote in post #3495601
Malskat, i think your effort was just great. I think the type of picture that you used worked quite well with all those orange tones..

Thanks. I never really tried that before. I remember having a few of those old photos myself when I was a child. I need to take a few out & sneek a peek.

Nice tutorial you posted, I think I will give it a whirl as well.. gives it a 'nostalgic' feeling.